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I love trying new recipes and writing reviews so here we are at my food blog, where my two interests of computers and culinary collide! You'll likely find an assortment of recipes, crafts, travel, and restaurant reviews! I also am striving to include special features such as Michigan travel, Michigan food, cake decorating, and more! My original goal is simply to document this for myself but if some one happens along to visit - I hope you enjoy! If you have any questions about cakes or anything else, contact me at kitchenbliss[at]gmail[dot]com.

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Monday, June 9, 2008

The Bisquick box caught my eye: "I want to make something with that," I thought. I was thinking about ideas for a dinner (which all went out the window due to a violent storm and subsequent power outage 2 hours later), and flipped through some Cooking Light and side dish cookbooks. I was originally wondering "can't I make shortbread biscuits?" because I still had a lot of strawberries leftover from that strawberry covered cake. Nothing popped out so I took out ole Betty Crocker cookbook (a must have), and voila! (Well, no shortbread / strawberry shortcake recipes) but there was a biscuit receipt that used Bisquick! Easy Cheese Garlic Biscuits, I think it was called. They looked delicious... not healthy, necessarily,.. but tasty.

It was super fast to put this together, though the recipe said to use a wisk. Yeah right! If you want all the dough to end up in the wisk and nothing in the bowl, then use the wisk... otherwise use your hands or something else that won't coax your dough into a wire cage. This is one of those recipes that you'll likely have all ingredients on hand. The buttery topping sorta sinks into the would-be dry biscuit to make a nice, rich mixture. The cheese melts into the inside of the biscuit and you don't even realize it is there, really. It's a delicious combination and would work well for company.

Also, I had meant to incorporate chopped fresh herbs into half of them to see if I liked that (and to put that herb garden I have to use!) - but I picked and chopped the herbs, but then I forgot. I will say that if I sprinkled the herbs on the biscuits after they were out of the oven, it tasted delicious. I did not photograph this but I highly recommend this addition. I had used a mixture of thyme, rosemary, and sage leaves but anything Italian-style (dry, too), would taste great, I'm sure.

Here's the recipe, finally:

Easy Cheese Garlic Biscuits

(as seen in The New Betty Crocker Cookbook)(also apparently as eaten in Red Lobster restaurants across America)....plus I've noted some of my modifications/tipsIngredients2 cups bisquick3/4 cup milk1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used that plus about 1/4 cup italian cheese mix I had leftover)1/4 cup butter, melted (I think less butter would be better - I had extra and was generous!)1/4 tsp garlic powder

DirectionsPre-heat oven to 450. Mix bisquick, milk, and cheese in a bowl until a soft dough forms. (They said to beat with a wire wisk for 30 seconds but the wisk thing didn't work out for me at all - all the dough got trapped! This dough is thick so just mix/knead with a spoon or your hands for 30 seconds). Drop by spoonfuls into 12 biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I used foil and while it stuck a little, it was easy cleanup).

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Stir together melted butter and garlic powder, and brush over biscuits before removing from the pan. Serve warm and enjoy!

NotesI just did a search and here is the recipe as listed on BettyCrocker.com:Cheese-Garlic Biscuits. They seemed to have reduced the garlic powder, so I guess that is up to you. They halved the butter, which I agree with - I ended up throwing some of mine away and had already used plenty. They also have removed the idea of using a wisk (good!) and they reduced the number of biscuits to 9. I am curious as to why - I thought I could've easily made 13 biscuits and had to increase the size of my biscuits so I'd only have 12. Again, I highly recommend adding some chopped fresh (or dry) herbs - or some chopped jalapenos or chili powder/flakes would go nicely. This is a SUPER easy recipe and you can modify it to put your own creative twist on it.

They say in the book and on their website that this is "commonly used in restaurants" - I have not come across this anywhere, myself. I've heard Red Lobster makes something that was described like this, so I wonder...... hmm....(And by the magic of the internet----after a quick google search right here... yes, these are the Red Lobster biscuits!)

So, without knowing it, I was also baking a "copy-cat recipe for Red Lobster biscuits"! Who knew? I don't think I've ever eaten there (maybe as a child...).